


Grinning Pumpkins

by mimikutie



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Richie is lonely, Richie tries to be helpful with Eddie's anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-27 19:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20766041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimikutie/pseuds/mimikutie
Summary: Richie and Eddie carve some pumpkins at the park for some fall fun. For backjeanpocket





	Grinning Pumpkins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [backjeanpocket](https://archiveofourown.org/users/backjeanpocket/gifts).

> I know this is backjeanpocket's ship, so I had to write some for her. I'm not an It expert, i didnt rly edit this after the fact, and had to consult a fanwiki for some details so send ur recommended edits my way! Love u! ♡

Derry did have, for all that it didn’t, gorgeous autumns. It was late September, and all of Maine was beginning to tan and blaze with fall leaves that hushed the pavement under Richie’s bike. Usually, he wouldn’t have given a shit about the postcard view. In fact, he didn’t enjoy most of the fall season (discounting Halloween night, the petty vandal’s Christmas) as it inevitably coupled with the beginning of the school year. He was appreciating it more now that he looked at it, now that it was giving him a reason to spend time with someone outside of class. The rest of the Loser’s were notoriously hard to get a hold of, especially now that school was back in. He would’ve resigned himself to stewing over it, vowing to never speak to them again, then being the first to start the conversation when he saw them the next day.

That’s what made Eddie’s invite so unexpected, so exciting _(that’s why he was so jittery all day, he was excited to hang out with a friend. That’s why he was a tiny bit nervous at the base of his gut). _Eds had gotten some carving pumpkins on the cheap and called for the whole gang to bring knives (he wouldn’t take some in his own bag, in case he fell on his bike and the knife cut through his backpack and-) and carve some before they went bad. The others had backed out, though Ben said he would come by another day and catch up to them on his own pumpkin.

Richie at least trusted Ben’s word, but he felt sorry for Eds, he didn’t wanna picture him, sitting alone in the park’s empty soccer field with a bunch of useless pumpkins and not even a knife for carving. So he hurried off down the neighborhood streets as soon as he’d dropped off his bag and filched a selection of kitchen knives, newspaper, markers, and on short deliberation, some vinyl gloves from home. Eddie would probably wuss out if he had to touch pumpkin guts with his bare hands.

He was probably hurrying a little too quickly, as the bike slid under him on the layers of waxy fallen leaves, the front tire slamming the concrete curb and dumping him in a knot of limbs onto the undermanaged Derry park grass.

“Aw, dammit.” He mumbled ruefully, untangling his skinny knees from the pedals.

“Jesus, dumbass! You could’ve broken a leg!” Eddie ran over, already exasperated (though that may have just been his resting state, Richie thought)

“Didyouactuallybreaksomthing-ohmygodtellmeyoudidntdothatwithaknifeinyourbag-“

“I’m fine, cute, just trying out a BMX trick, that I invented, by the way.” He hopped up with a theatrical bounce. “I am an expert after all.”

“Don’t call me cute, dickweed.” But Richie was rewarded with a smile.

“One order of very dangerous knives- that didn’t stab anyone! - right here, good sir,” he continued, and drew the bundle of newspaper from his bag, but Eddie wasn’t looking.

“Oh man, your knee!” Richie felt what he was staring at without even having to look down. It was still too warm for pants yet, and his bare knee had caught the grass and left a sting of raw skin over it.

“It’s just a scrape! Come on, I snuck lethal weapons out of my house and then ate shit on my bike to carve pumpkins, not go to the ER. Now where’s the goods?” He didn’t wait for Eddie to respond, trying to steer him from his evident anxiety, and plopping himself down on the grass where a handful of bright orange gourds propped up Eddie’s familiar backpack. Richie noticed a stack of note paper on the grass as he readied the newsprint.

“Did you draw these? These are awesome, dude!” A series of vibrant expressions had been sketched out in ballpoint pen; scowls, snarls, and grins all perfect for the face of a jack-o-lantern.

Eddie, grabbed the remainder still at Richie’s feet, “don’t laugh at them, I was just brainstorming.”

“Dude, I wasn’t laughing, I’m serious!” Richie flushed a bit, wondering if he’d used the wrong tone of voice, something he was prone to, especially around Eds. He turned the sheet over to show him the drooling zombie face. “I think this one’s my favorite.”

“Yeah? You like them?” Eddie beamed at him. “I dunno, I didn’t really think them through, I was just messing around in class- “

“Cute, don’t get all spazzy about it, I love them, lets do it!”

The two boys ended up helping each other on their own pumpkins together using the templates. They sorted the seeds from the guts (Eddie gratefully took the gloves Richie had brought, though he pretended to be pissed at Richie tossing them in his face) and Richie didn’t even pretend to aim a fistful of the slime at Eddie. It was autumnally cool, and the grass was silky with late afternoon gold by the time they were finished and cleaned up, Richie sporting two fresh band-aids from Eds’ fanny-pack. It would’ve have been too hard to carry pumpkins and ride at the same time, so Richie walked their bikes back with Eddie, carrying their pumpkins, to Eds' place. They set his own, carved with a skeletal grin and broad eye sockets, on his front porch.

“It’ll look great with a candle, maybe I can come by and help you light it tomorrow?” Richie said it with a shrug, but he couldn’t stop smiling. A genuine, happy smile.

“Yeah, and maybe we can give the others some of my faces to carve when they come by too!”

Richie smiled brighter. “It’s only the best season ever, we’ve got to!”


End file.
